Building Towers, Cheating Workers

Languages

Available In

I. Summary

Dubai,
with its glittering new skyline of high-rise buildings and its profusion of
luxury resorts and real estate, is the most globally emblematic evidence of the
economic rise of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).[1]
As the UAE undergoes one of the largest construction booms in the world, at
least half a million migrant construction workers are employed there. Behind
the glitter and luxury, the experiences of these migrant workers present a much
less attractive picture-of wage exploitation, indebtedness to unscrupulous
recruiters, and working conditions that are hazardous to the point of being
deadly. UAE federal labor law offers a number of protections, but for migrant
construction workers these are largely unenforced.

This Human Rights Watch report addresses the abusive conditions
faced by migrant construction workers in the UAE, specifically their
exploitation by employers, and the UAE federal government's failure adequately
to address these abuses. Through interviews with workers, government officials,
and foreign embassy representatives, as well as a survey of media reports in
news and trade journal publications, we highlight what appears to be the most
common concern of the construction workers: extremely low wages, typically
withheld by employers for a minimum of two months along with their passports,
as "security" to keep the worker from quitting. Having incurred large debts to
recruitment agencies in their home countries, paid to finance visa and travel
costs, notwithstanding the legal prohibition against charging workers such fees,
the workers feel compelled to remain in these jobs, despite the low-and in some
cases, more protractedly unpaid-wages.

Moreover, while engaged in the
hazardous work of constructing high-rises, workers face apparently high rates
of injury and death with little assurance that their employers will cover their
health care needs. A lack of reliable and comprehensive statistics, including
the failure to enforce company reporting requirements about deaths and
injuries, is indicative of the entirely deficient capacities of the agencies
tasked with investigating labor practices. Human Rights Watch learned that 140
government inspectors were responsible for overseeing the labor practices of
more than 240,000 businesses employing migrant workers. Of greater concern is
that the same deficiency of oversight may mean an absence of appropriate
enforcement of health and safety standards, which may directly account for
worker deaths and injuries.

Foreigners constitute 95 percent of the workforce in the
UAE, and as of 2005, there were 2,738,000 migrant workers in the country. The
roughly 20 percent of migrant workers who are employed in construction are
overwhelmingly men from South Asia, many of
them illiterate and from impoverished rural communities.

UAE federal labor law provisions apply to both UAE nationals
and migrant workers. But the federal government of the UAE has abdicated almost
entirely from its responsibility to protect workers' rights by investigating,
prosecuting and remedying abusive and unlawful conduct by employers towards the
construction workers. It has failed to enforce UAE law that since 1980 has
required the government to implement a minimum wage, evidently choosing to
uphold the interests of generally powerful and extremely profitable construction
companies over the most basic rights of the migrant worker, who on average
receives the equivalent of US$175 a month for his labor on a construction site.
This stands in stark contrast to the average per capita income in the UAE of
$2,106 a month.

Moreover, the government has refused to allow workers to
organize trade unions and to bargain collectively with their employers (a
deficit compounded by official obstructiveness toward development of a civil
society sector that could monitor and bring to light human rights abuses,
including abuses against workers). In March 2006, the Ministry of Labor
announced that it will institute a law allowing trade unions and collective
bargaining by the end of 2006, but as of early October the government has not
published any details of this law or of proposed mechanisms for its
implementation. Instead, in September the Ministry of Labor issued a resolution
banning striking migrant workers from further employment in the country for at
least one year (the government had deported workers suspected of organizing
strikes on several occasions prior to this resolution).

The plight of migrant construction workers begins in their
home countries, where they pay local recruitment agencies exorbitant fees (in
the range of $2,000-$3,000) to arrange for their employment contract, obtain an
employment visa for the UAE, and purchase their air travel. Typically, they
take loans, either directly from the recruitment agents or from a third party,
to pay for these fees. Coming up with the monthly repayment becomes the prime
focus of the workers, who devote most of their pay during their first two years
of employment to servicing the loans. When construction firms immediately
withhold a worker's first two months of wages-which is apparently so common
that it is said to be a "custom"-the worker almost immediately falls into
arrears on his debt, and additional charges start to accrue. Workers continue
in their jobs even when faced with employers who fail to pay wages for much
longer periods of time; the only practical alternative open to them is to quit
their jobs and return home, debts unpaid.

All of the construction workers
interviewed for this report said that their employers confiscated their
passports upon their arrival in the UAE, also commonly known to be a "custom"
of employers in the UAE to protect against their migrant workers' absconding.
Although UAE courts have ruled that employer confiscation of passports is
illegal, employers continue the practice totally unfettered by any concern that
the government will enforce the law.

At the same time, construction workers face some of the most
hazardous working conditions in the country. The extent of death and injury of
migrant construction workers is one of the most troubling, if poorly
documented, aspects of the construction sector in the UAE, with government and
private sources diverging as to the numbers involved. According to government
figures available for Dubai, 34 construction
workers died at their work sites in 2004, and 39 in 2005, but based on figures
from an independent investigation by a local trade publication, it appears that
in 2004 the number of work-site deaths of Indian workers alone was certainly
higher than the 34 recorded for all nationalities in Dubai. The low number of construction
companies complying with the legal requirement to report cases of workplace
death and injury to the government is strongly suggestive of a cover up of
their true extent by the construction sector, an allegation made in a number of
media reports.

In most other places, a worker faced with hazardous working
conditions and unpaid wages, in a free market economy that has an extreme
shortage of labor, would move to a different job. But this is not an option for
the migrant construction workers of the UAE, who like all other migrant workers
in the country are contracted to work only for a specific employer. A worker
seeking to move to a different employer is eligible to do so only after working
for two years for the present employer and obtaining his or her consent to the
move.

In each aspect of the troubled
working conditions faced by construction workers in the UAE, the federal
government has done little or nothing. It has failed to create adequate
mechanisms to investigate, prosecute, penalize, or remedy breaches of its own
laws. For example, having made a point of passing a law that bans both local
recruitment agencies and local employers from charging workers any fee in
connection with the recruitment or employment process, it has made little
effort to punish recruiting agents who persist in making these charges, or the
employers who are complicit, nor has it acted against the circumvention of the
law by UAE employers and recruitment agents who "outsource" charging workers
fees to recruitment agents located in source countries. The federal
government's efforts to counter employers' withholding of wages has been
sporadic, at best.

While aggrieved workers are
entitled to seek a hearing before the Ministry of Labor, which arbitrates
disputes and refers unresolved cases to the judiciary, the availability of
arbitration remains a limited option. Government officials, including the
minister of labor, have themselves criticized the arbitration process as
inadequate and in need of urgent reform. Some of the ministry's arbitrators
have been accused of protecting the interests of construction businesses
instead of implementing the provisions of the labor law in a just and fair
manner. The ministry apparently keeps no comprehensive information (including statistics) about the cases it
arbitrates.

Recourse to the judiciary has also proved to be of limited
use to workers. In theory, UAE labor law provides penalties for any violation
of its provisions, including non-payment of wages, but Human Rights Watch has
not been able to document a single instance where an employer was sanctioned,
either by prison time or financial penalties, for failing to pay its workers.
Even workers who have succeeded in obtaining judgments against their employers
have been unable to enforce them to recover their wages, much less succeed in
seeing the employer punished with fines or imprisonment.

Individual emirate governments have made some attempts to
address the problems faced by migrant workers on their territory. Following a spike
in labor unrest in the previous two years, in 2005 the Dubai government established two agencies,
the Permanent Committee for Labor Affairs (PCLA) and a human rights department
in the Dubai Police, to arbitrate disputes between workers and their employers.
Since their inception, they have handled tens of thousands of cases of labor
disputes and have played an important role in collecting unpaid wages. More
recently, the government of Abu Dhabi
passed a law requiring all companies to provide private medical health
insurance for their employees. But such ad hoc remedies are not the proper
substitute for remedies applied by federal agencies, with countrywide
application.

The federal government needs to take the lead in tackling
problems faced by migrant construction workers. It should immediately initiate
an independent inquiry into the abuses they experience. It should prohibit UAE
companies from doing business with recruitment agencies that flout the ban on
charging fees to workers. It should vigorously prosecute violations of UAE
labor law, imposing meaningful penalties, and should enforce the labor law's
minimum wage provision. It should improve data collection about migrant
workers, and substantially increase labor inspection capacity. The UAE government
should also ratify international instruments protecting workers' and migrant
workers' rights.

Foreign governments have a role
to play in ensuring respect for the rights of migrant construction workers in
the UAE. The economies of source countries benefit tremendously from the
remittances of expatriate workers in the UAE; their governments have a great
interest in ensuring that the workers are compensated and treated fairly. They
need to clamp down on local recruitment agents who charge workers fees in connection
with their employment in the UAE, and they should prohibit the charging of such
fees entirely. Their embassies in the UAE should also make proactive efforts to
address the needs of their expatriate citizens, providing them with advice and
assistance should they encounter difficulties with employers.

The United States,
the European Union and Australia
also have an important opportunity to urge the UAE to address its failure to
protect workers' rights, as they negotiate free trade agreements (FTAs) with
the UAE. At a minimum, they should condition any agreement on labor law reform
in the UAE that explicitly allows workers to form trade unions and to bargain
collectively with their employers, and establishes sufficient protections to
adequately safeguard these rights. They should also establish as a precondition
for any FTA that the UAE adopt the measures necessary to effectively enforce
UAE labor law, including by substantially increasing the number of labor
inspectors, and demonstrate the efficacy of these measures with specific data
on government labor law enforcement activity.

II. Recommendations

To the Government of the United Arab Emirates

1. Establish an independent commission to investigate and publicly report
on the situation of migrant workers in the country.

The government of the UAE should
directly confront and seek to address the abuse of migrant construction workers
in the country. As there is limited official information available on their
extent, the government should immediately initiate an independent inquiry into
these abuses by establishing an independent commission.

The commission should investigate the federal government's
failure to enforce the protective provisions of the current legal framework. As
part of its mandate, the commission should be empowered to have unfettered
access to government records on worker disputes; to hold public hearings; and
to collect testimonies from migrant workers and their advocates as well as from
regional and international nongovernmental organizations with expertise on
migrant workers' issues and rights.

The commission should be required by law to complete its
inquiry within a defined period of time, and make its findings and
recommendations public.

2. Prohibit companies from doing business with recruitment agencies, in the
UAE and abroad, that charge workers fees for travel, visas, employment
contracts, or anything else. Prosecute and implement significant penalties for
employers and recruiting agencies that violate the law.

UAE law prohibits local construction companies and
recruitment agencies from charging migrant workers any fees in connection with
their employment in the UAE. However, the government appears to be doing little
to prosecute the commonplace violation of this law by recruiting agencies and
employers whereby recruiting agencies (or proxy agencies is source countries)
charge workers the fees, from which employers are reimbursed whatever fees they
have paid for the record. The government must take affirmative steps to prosecute
the widescale violation of this law, impose substantial fines on employers and
recruiting agencies found guilty, and should require construction companies to
reimburse employees who are found to have paid fees to the recruiting agent
arranging their employment. Furthermore, UAE law should be amended to ban
construction companies from recruiting through agencies in source countries
that require workers to pay fees. Finally, the UAE government should work with
the governments of the source countries to prosecute and prohibit local
recruiting agencies who engage in this practice.

3. Aggressively investigate and prosecute employers who violate other
provisions of the UAE labor law. Impose meaningful and consequential penalties
on companies that violate workers' rights, to put an end to the present
atmosphere of impunity.

As documented in
this report, construction companies routinely withhold wages from employees,
and confiscate their passports.Construction companies continue
to violate the law because they have not been held responsible in any
meaningful way by the government. The
government should ensure that government investigators and prosecutors are
adequately staffed and trained to prosecute these violations of the law.It
should impose substantial penalties on companies found to violate the law; this
should have the important effect of deterring other companies from further
violations.

In cases in which employers flee or refuse to pay penalties
imposed for violating workers' rights, the government should liquidate the
employers' bank guarantees ( posted as part of the application to sponsor
migrant workers) to enforce the judgments on behalf of the affected workers.
UAE labor law should be amended to explicitly require the liquidation of
employers' bank guarantees in such cases.

4. Provide quantitative and qualitative data on labor disputes, deaths and
injuries at construction sites, and government actions to address these issues.

The extent of violations against migrant construction
workers is difficult to quantify because data and government transparency are
lacking. The government should publicly report the number of labor disputes and
how they are resolved, and collect and publicly disclose comprehensive data,
information, and statistics on numbers and causes of deaths and injuries in the
construction sector. This data should include information on what happens to
injured workers, how many are sent home, and how they are compensated by their
employers. UAE labor law should be amended to mandate such data collection and
public reporting.

5. Increase substantially the number of inspectors responsible for
overseeing the private sector's treatment of migrant construction workers.
Ensure that they carry out their duties to inspect construction sites to verify
that they are safe and meet the requirements of law.

The current number of government
inspectors overseeing the construction sector is inadequate. The government
should increase the number of inspectors substantially in order to strengthen
its ability to oversee construction companies and to compel them to abide by
UAE law. The government recently announced that it plans to increase the number
of inspectors to 1,000 within the next 18 months. It should make sure that this
plan is instituted and that it will result in efficient implementation of the
labor law. The government should also ensure that the inspectors are able to
communicate with workers in the language of their home countries.

6. Take immediate action to inform and educate migrant construction workers
arriving for employment in the UAE of their rights under UAE law.

The majority of migrant construction workers are illiterate
and unaware of their rights in the UAE. Upon arrival in the UAE, the government
should provide them with information
about their rights, both verbally and in writing and in a language they can
understand, and how to seek redress in cases where their rights are violated.

7. Abide by the obligation under the UAE labor law of 1980 to implement a
minimum wage.

The government should immediately institute a reasonable
minimum wage.

8. Allow for the establishment of genuine and independent human rights and
workers' rights organizations.

The lack of a broad civil society sector in the UAE is a
major impediment to bringing to light the true extent of abuses. The official
climate is obstructive toward civil society organizations (for example, without
explanation the government has withheld permits from two out of three human
rights organizations that have requested them, and the government has
repeatedly threatened with prosecution a women's rights group that is operating
a shelter for abused women in Dubai). The government should permit the
establishment of nongovernmental organizations that can routinely monitor the
human rights conditions in the country, report and document abuses, and provide
advocacy on behalf of migrant workers.

9. Ratify the International Labour Organization's Conventions No. 87 and
No. 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, and amend UAE labor
law to incorporate the conventions' protections.

UAE law does not contain any
provisions on trade unions and collective bargaining. It explicitly prohibits
labor strikes. As long as workers are deprived of their rights to have trade
union representation and collective bargaining, and their derivative right to
strike, their ability to counter the violations committed by their employers is
significantly limited. UAE labor law should be amended to comply with
international standards and explicitly protect workers' right to organize and
bargain collectively; the ban on labor strikes should be repealed. The law
should provide for the formation of independent unions free from employer and
government interference. The unions should be empowered to represent workers
effectively and efficiently and allowed to draw up their rules, elect their
representatives, and operate in full freedom. All workers, regardless of their
citizenship, should have the right to join trade unions and be allowed to
participate fully and have active representation and voting rights.

In light of serious concerns for workers health and safety
and the government's lack of comprehensive data, the government should ratify
this convention and ensure that international standards with regard to workers
health and safety are in place.

11. Ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of
All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

The UAE is a country where migrant workers constitute the
majority of residents. The UAE should ratify the International Convention on
the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families and amend UAE labor law to incorporate the convention's provisions, to
ensure that the migrant workers rights are protected according to international
standards.

To the Governments of India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka

1. Enhance labor departments of your embassies and consulates in the UAE to
assist migrant construction workers from your country whose rights are violated
by their employers.

Lack of civil society organizations, unions, and labor
advocacy groups in the UAE means that migrant construction workers do not have
access to any institutional resources when their rights are violated and are
unable to self-organize to address the abuses. The embassies and consulates of
the workers' home countries should step in to fill this void. They should
provide their nationals with guidance,
translators, and legal assistance to pursue their complaints with UAE
authorities.

2. Raise formally with your counterparts in the UAE the importance of the
UAE government's establishing an independent commission to investigate and report
on labor-related abuses of migrant construction workers.

The UAE economy in general, and the construction sector in
particular, is highly dependent on migrant workers. The economies of sending
countries are also benefiting greatly from the migrant workers' remittances
home. The UAE and sending country governments should work cooperatively to
ensure that mutual economic benefits are accompanied by improvements in
workers' rights.

3. Urge the UAE's Ministry of Labor to fully implement its labor laws and to
hold violators fully accountable under its laws.

4. Request immediate and full disclosure of causes of death when your
country's citizens suffer fatal injuries, and regular reports of all workplace
injuries suffered by your citizens.

To the Governments of the United States, the European Union, and Australia

1. Condition the ratification of free trade agreements with the government
of the UAE on improved protection for workers' rights. In particular, insist
that prior to adoption of the accords, the UAE reform its labor laws to bring
them into compliance with international workers' rights standards, including by
explicitly and fully protecting workers' right to organize, bargain
collectively, and strike. Further require that, before ratification of the agreements,
the UAE also take the steps necessary to effectively enforce its labor laws,
including by adopting a minimum wage provision and following the other
recommendations for improved enforcement set forth above.

2. Include in free trade agreements with the government of the UAE strong,
binding, and enforceable workers' rights provisions that require that parties'
labor laws conform with international standards and that the parties
effectively enforce those labor laws.

III. Methodology

Human Rights Watch conducted research for this report in the
UAE in February 2006, interviewing at length 60 construction workers in the
emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, and 'Ajman. These workers detailed experiences
ranging from how they were recruited in their home countries to their working
and living conditions in the UAE.

Human Rights Watch also interviewed government officials,
lawyers, journalists, health professionals, and foreign diplomats knowledgeable
about the situation of migrant workers. Our researchers also met with
employers, and visited the Labor Ministry (to see where workers lodge their
official complaints), various construction sites, hospital wards, and labor
camps where construction workers are housed.

Because of the general lack of institutions of civil society
and nongovernmental organizations in the UAE, no comprehensive reports based on
field work are available on the situation of migrant workers in the UAE, except
for a few academic dissertations on the topic.[2]
As a result, Human Rights Watch researchers did not have any access to local
organizations that have systematically
researched and documented the conditions of migrant workers or advocated on
their behalf. To gain a more rounded picture of labor issues, Human Rights
Watch interviewed 47 unskilled migrant workers working outside of the
construction sector. Although their testimonies are not included in this
report, their accounts confirmed that the exploitation of migrant workers is
not limited to construction workers, and indicate that further research into
the conditions of all migrant workers in the UAE is required. Given the finite
period and the limited scope of this research by Human Rights Watch, we believe
our findings cover only a small portion of the exploitation of migrant workers
in the UAE.

During our research in the UAE, we encountered a general
atmosphere of fear among all migrant workers whom we interviewed. All of them
asked that their full name not be used because the government could easily
deport them. They also expressed fear that their employers might punish them
because of their testimonies. Where last names of interviewees do not appear,
they have been withheld upon interviewees' request.

Note
on Terminology: The term "migrant worker," according to international
law, refers to a person who is engaged "in remunerated activity in a State of
which he or she is not a national."[3]
Accordingly, Human Rights Watch considers foreign nationals who live and work
in the UAE under term-limited contracts, for a specific employer, as migrant
workers.

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights
of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families explicitly states that
"seasonal worker," "project-tied worker," and "specified-employment worker,"
who earn remuneration as a result of their activity in a State where they are
not a national, are all considered migrant workers.[4]
Although the UAE is not a party to the Convention, this is an authoritative
source of international law on the definition of "migrant worker."

In a letter to Human Rights Watch of September 28, 2006, the
government of the UAE argued that "workers hosted by the UAE and other [Gulf
Cooperation Council] countries cannot be considered migrant workers, as they
work on a temporary basis and according to fix-term employment contracts
Therefore, the immigration laws applicable in the western countries cannot be
applied to these workers."[5]

This report documents abuses against migrant construction
workers in the UAE based on violations of international law as well as UAE law.
Immigration laws of Western countries have no bearings on the findings and
recommendations of this report.

IV. Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates

Within the UAE's resident population of 4,100,000, only 20
percent are citizens.[6]
The vast majority of the rest are migrant workers and their families: as of
2005, there were 2,738,000 migrant workers in the UAE, who make up 95 percent
of the UAE workforce in the private sector.[7]
The UAE's economy is entirely dependent on foreign workers.

Migrant workers employed in the private sector in the UAE
are sponsored by UAE citizens under employment contracts for one to three
years, subject to renewal. Once a migrant worker's work permit expires, if not
renewed, the worker (and any accompanying family members) must leave the
country, regardless of how many years he or she has resided in the UAE.

The UAE economy, traditionally fueled by the oil sector, has
developed more broadly during the past five years. In 2005, crude oil production
accounted for 35.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), growing 2.1 percent
as compared to the previous year,[8]
while other sectors grew in the same period at a remarkable rate of 11 percent.
The growth of the economy is closely tied to labor-intensive sectors: in 2005
wholesale and retail trade and the restaurant and hotel businesses grew by 15
percent; the manufacturing sector by 13.9 percent; and finance, insurance, and
the real estate sectors each by 12 percent.[9]
Economic success has generated much interest in the UAE, leading to increasing
levels of international investment, and the country has emerged as a major Middle East trading and investment hub. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton recently said, "Dubai is a role model of
what could be achieved despite the other negative developments in the region.
Look at Dubai,
which has achieved enormous growth in such a short period of time."[10]

The construction boom in the UAE, particularly in the
emirate of Dubai,
is one of the leading sectors of economic growth in the country (growing 10
percent in 2005), and is among the biggest and fastest growing construction
markets in the world. The growth in construction has fueled the growth of the
UAE economy, contributing 8 percent to the country's overall GDP and 11 percent
of the non-oil-related GDP in 2005.[11]
According to a study by the Dubai government, "Dubai construction
sector['s] absolute contribution to the GDP is on an upswing, achieving an
increase of 23 percent during the period 2000-2004, and an annual growth rate
of 5 percent."[12]
The types of construction projects completed in 2004 included 1,436 villas, 393
commercial buildings, and 290 industrial, entertainment, and service buildings.[13]
A prominent feature of the construction activity in Dubai is the construction of large-scale
projects, such as the Emaar Marina Complex, which comprises 190 new residential
high-rises and the world's tallest tower, Burj Dubai.[14]

As of 2004, there were over 500,000 migrant construction
workers in the country, and Human Rights Watch estimates that in 2005 the
number of migrant construction workers reached at least 600,000.[15]
With much of the construction activity concentrated in Dubai, in 2005 there were 304,983 workers
employed in that emirate's construction sector alone.[16]
Of the total 5,938 construction companies operating in Dubai in 2005,[17]
the vast majority (76 percent) were small companies employing fewer than 20
workers.[18]
Although no statistics are available on the breakdown of the workers by their
countries of origin, according to available information
the majority of migrant construction workers in the UAE come from India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.[19]

Source country embassies
confirmed that migrant workers employed in the construction sector are all male,
that most of them are recruited from rural areas in their home countries, and
are typically illiterate. The construction workers interviewed for this report
were all male, illiterate, and their ages ranged between 18 and 60 years old.
They had paid fees in a range of $2,000-$3,000 to local recruitment agencies in
their home countries to obtain employment sponsorship in the UAE. Typically,
migrant construction workers enter into employment contracts for a period of
one to three years, subject to renewal, at a monthly wage ranging from $106 to
$250; on average a migrant construction worker earns $175 a month (the average
per capita income in the UAE is $2,106 a month).[20]

Upon arrival in the UAE, many aspects of the migrant
construction workers' lives are closely tied to their employer. Employers house
construction workers in dormitory-style dwellings on the outskirts of urban
areas (commonly known as labor camps), and employers usually provide their
workers with food or food subsidies (of the men interviewed by Human Rights
Watch, some reported that their employer provided them with access to food
canteens, while others said they had a food allowance and purchased and
prepared their own meals). Construction companies also are obliged under the
law to provide emergency health care for their workers, either by providing
direct medical care by having doctors on staff, or giving the workers a health
card that permits them to use government-owned hospitals.

During visits to the two largest
labor camps in Dubai,
Al Quoz and Sonapar, Human Rights Watch researchers visited six establishments
housing construction workers. A typical dwelling was a small room (12 feet by 9
feet) in which as many as eight workers lived together. Three or four double
bunk beds represented the only furniture in each room. The workers used
communal bathrooms and showers outside their rooms.

Visibility of Migrant Worker Grievances

Over the past two years, the UAE media has focused
significant attention on the grievances of construction workers. Hardly a day
passes when a tale of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers in general and
construction workers in particular does not surface in the UAE. A sampling of
news items produces headlines such as "Captive workers escape from housing compound,"
"Construction worker dies third in fortnight," "Workers protest to get dues
of over nine years," or "Abandoned workers fear their plight will be ignored."[21]

Beyond the press, however, a general lack of civil society
actors (particularly nongovernmental organizations) in the UAE mean that there
are no private actors to fill the void of absent government protection and
union championing of migrant workers' rights in the country (the ban on
workers' organizing is discussed below in the section "Absence of trade unions
and collective bargaining"). There are no independent organizations to monitor
the construction sector-or any other labor sector-to report and document abuses
systematically, and to advocate for
migrant workers' rights. This has produced a situation where the government and
the business sector are the sole entities deciding on labor-related issues.

Worker grievances have spilled into public protests,
otherwise almost entirely unheard of in the country. Charges of exploitation of
construction workers have led to a number of demonstrations, strikes, and most
recently rioting by thousands of construction workers. According to government
statistics, between May and December 2005 at least eight major strikes took
place.[22]
In September 2005, nearly a thousand construction workers blocked a major
highway in Dubai
demanding their unpaid wages (see below).[23]
On March 21, 2006,
thousands of construction workers rioted in Dubai, asking for better working conditions
and better wages.[24]
In one of the biggest demonstrations in the country this year, on May 16, 2006,
thousands of construction workers working for Besix, a Brussels-based company,
went on strike for better wages (their wage was $4 a day) and better working
conditions.[25]

V. Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers

The Recruitment Process

The recruitment of migrant construction workers begins in
their home countries. Variously, local recruitment companies in the source
countries, working on behalf of UAE-based companies, advertise for and enlist
workers for jobs in the UAE;[26]
construction companies dispatch recruitment scouts directly to source countries
to work with local recruitment companies;[27]
or construction companies rely on UAE-based recruitment companies that act as
intermediaries between UAE employers and recruitment agencies in the source
countries.[28]

There are also companies in the
UAE that import migrant workers for the sole purpose of subcontracting them to
other employers, including construction companies, for long- or short-term jobs.[29]
They are known as "manpower supply agencies."

The UAE's Labor Law No. 8 of 1980 (the federal law
regulating labor relations throughout the country-see the section "UAE Labor
Law," above) permits only UAE nationals who are licensed by the Ministry of Labor
to sponsor migrant workers. This applies to employers who directly recruit
migrant workers as well as to those companies who act as intermediaries in the
recruitment process.[30]

Under the UAE Labor Law, employers must pay certain fees to
the government for each foreign worker they recruit into the country. These
fees include an employment visa request fee of 200 dirhams (AED)($55) and an
employment visa issuance fee of 1,000 AED ($273).[31]
In addition, employers must provide an airline ticket to migrant workers to
travel from their home countries to the UAE.

UAE law explicitly forbids UAE recruiters from collecting
any fees from prospective migrant workers.[32]
However, UAE recruitment agents appear to openly flout this law, charging
workers these fees instead of requiring the prospective employer to bear the
cost. Our researchers talked to five recruitment agencies in the UAE regarding
the recruitment of construction workers. Four of these five agencies confirmed
that they expect workers to pay for the visa and travel fees that UAE law
requires only employers to pay. One recruiter told our researcher that
prospective "candidates [migrant workers] will bear the visa and travel costs.
We will collect these fees from candidates and pay it to construction companies
who apply for their visa. It is of course illegal and I can't put it on a
written contract; it is done in cash. We do it all the time."[33]
According to another recruitment agency in Dubai, "We [the agency] will take care of
transportation, advertisement, and other costs. We can charge the candidates.
People who are candidates will cover all the costs including visa fees and air
tickets."[34]
A third agent said, "I can provide a company with ten, hundred, or even a
thousand workers. We will interview and select them in India and Pakistan. For unskilled workers, we
don't charge the employers anything. The candidates will pay for visa and
transportation costs."[35]

Workers Human Rights Watch interviewed confirmed the same
facts: every single construction worker interviewed said he had been required
to pay up-front travel and visa fees to his recruiting agent.

Nataranjan works for a construction and landscaping company
in Dubai. He is
from the state of Kerala in India.
Human Rights Watch interviewed him and 19 other Indian workers who are employed
by the same company. Nataranjan said,

I paid 100,000 Indian rupees ($2,200) to an agency in India to get a
visa to come here and work. Each of us owes a lot of money to recruiting agents
back home.[36]

Sattar is a construction worker from India who also described the same
recruitment process:

I am 42 years [old] and come from Rajasthan in India.
I am married with three children. In 2003, I saw a posting by an agency
advertising jobs in Dubai.
I paid a recruitment agency in India 80,000 Indian rupees ($1,788). This money
covered my visa fee, airline ticket, and medical fees. I borrowed the money
from friends and family.[37]

Construction workers recruited from Pakistan also told Human Rights
Watch of paying up-front "visa fees." Ali, who works for Al Hamed Development
and Construction Company, said that he had been working in the UAE for the past
five years: "I paid an agency in Pakistan 150,000 Pakistani rupees ($2,500) to
get the visa to come here. I borrowed the money from friends and family. It
took me two years to pay it back."[38]

Some workers who cannot raise
money for the visa fees by borrowing from friends and family or selling land
resort to taking loans from recruiting agencies with exorbitant monthlyinterest rates. Three
construction workers from Bangladesh
recounted to us how they each took a loan in the amount of 150,000 Bangladeshi
taka ($2,210) from a local agency to obtain their visas. They said they paid 11
percent monthly interest on their loans.[39]
Nandi, an Indian construction worker living in Al Quoz labor camp on the
outskirts of Dubai city, said that he had taken
a loan from an agent in India
for 85,000 rupees ($1,880) and is paying 10 percent monthly interest.[40]

The wrongful levying of fees from workers does not
necessarily stop once recruitment has been accomplished. A Pakistani worker in Dubai, Ali, told Human
Rights Watch, "The company [his employer] deducts fees from my salary for
expenses that the company is supposed to cover under the law. I have to pay 900
AED ($245) to renew my visa. The company takes this out of my salary in
increments. Also, every three years, 500 AED ($136) is deducted for renewal of
my work permit card. The health card costs 300 AED ($82) and the company takes
this from my salary every year."[41]

Unpaid Wages

The most common complaint from
construction workers in the UAE, which also appears to form the basis of the
vast majority of labor disputes reviewed by the Ministry of Labor and the Dubai
labor agencies (see below, "Government Mechanisms Addressing Labor Disputes"),
is the withholding of wages by employers. All 60 of the workers interviewed by
Human Rights Watch said that their employers routinely withheld their wages,
and many of the workers we spoke to were owed back wages at the time of the
interview. The impact on workers whose wages are withheld for even one month is
very serious: they immediately fall into arrears on the debt they owe
recruiting agencies in their home countries; they incur additional interest;
and they are unable to send money home to their families, who depend on the
income earned in the UAE. In some cases, the non-payment of wages means that
workers do not have money to buy food or basic goods and end up borrowing money
just to survive.

Withholding one-and-a-half or two months' wages as
"security" to prevent workers from "running away" to a better job appears to be
accepted as a "custom" among construction companies in the UAE.[42]
When workers protest or complain about withheld wages, their complaint is not based
on this "customary" withholding, but about wages withheld beyond that period.
Of course, there is no basis in law for either practice; indeed, to withhold
wages violates UAE law requiring employers to pay workers in a timely fashion
and keep verifiable records.[43]
Construction business officials and workers have explained that construction
companies withhold wages beyond the two-month "security withholding" when they
run into cash flow problems, although that explanation may not be uniformly
credible, particularly in the context of Dubai's
booming construction sector.[44]

The non-payment of wages has been the subject of a number of
public protests by construction workers. On September 19, 2005, workers of Al
Hamed Development and Construction staged one of the largest public protests in
the UAE. Al Hamed Development and Construction is "one of the leading local
construction companies in the United Arab Emirates," which, according to the
company's website, "has achieved throughout the past seven and a half years a
growth that has never been achieved in the construction business industry
locally[,] regionally[,] or even internationally."[45]
As of May 2006, the company had 23 projects under construction with a total
value of 1,236,822,793 AED ($336,738,270).[46]

As part of the strike, 800 workers blocked Dubai's main thoroughfare to protest the
company's non-payment of their wages for four months, from May to August 2005.
They were part of a group of 7,000 workers for Al Hamed whom the company had
not paid.[47]

The minister of labor, Ali bin Abdullah Al Kaabi,
immediately stepped in and required the company to pay the delayed wages
"within the next 24 hours."[48]
The local media hailed the minister's swift response as a sign of the
government's determination to send a forceful signal to the construction
companies that their practice of not paying wages will no longer be tolerated.[49]

However, a Pakistani worker for
Al Hamed, Ali, told Human Rights Watch that as of April 2006, the company had
paid only two of the four months of delayed wages, and had missed a further
month since the September protest and government intervention, meaning that Al
Hamed still owed its workers three months' wages. The government had not fined
or otherwise punished the company. Moreover, the company dismissed the strike
leaders and they were deported. Ali (whose complaint against his employer's
levying of visa and other fees on an ongoing basis is quoted in the section
above) described the workers' impetus to publicly protest in September 2005:

Prior to the September strike, the company hadn't paid us
for four months. We purchased food from a canteen at our labor camp. In
September, the canteen stopped giving us credit, and we were completely out of
money. That was the final straw that compelled us to take decisive action.

Amongst ourselves, we argued that either we will get
deported because of our strike action or it will result in recovering our
unpaid wages. We didn't have a choice; we were willing to risk it.

In September the workers went on strike, and those of us in
Dubai took our protest public by blocking the
main road in Dubai,
the Sheikh Zayed Road.
Government officials from an arbitration council came and promised the workers
that they would redress their complaints. Immediately, we were paid two months
of unpaid wages.

But as of today, not only haven't we received payment for
the other two months, we are owed another month of wages since the strike. The
company deported the strike leaders. Since the strike things have worsened.

I earn a fixed salary of 750 AED [$204] monthly for six
days of work. The management compels us to work for 11 hours a day with no
overtime. I leave the camp at six in the morning and return at seven in the
evening.

I haven't got any vacation days for the past three years. I
was promised one month vacation every two years. When I ask the company
managers, they don't give any reason. Different people haven't got their
vacation for different periods of time.[50]

On July 14, 2006, in a letter to the minister of labor, Human
Rights Watch inquired about any actions taken to resolve the outstanding wage
arrears for Al Hamed's workers, and to hold the company accountable for
persistent violation of workers' rights (see Appendix). A reply from the UAE
government, dated September 28, did not address these questions.[51]

The non-payment of wages in the construction sector appears
to be particularly widespread in small companies that employ fewer than 100
workers, as illustrated in the following cases.

Mahmoud A. works for of a small "manpower supply" company (a
company that provides labor to other companies), and said that he and his
co-workers had not been paid for five months. He recounted their ordeal:

We have not been paid for the past five months, from
September 2005 to February 2006. There are 23 of us in this situation. We have
filed a complaint with the Permanent Committee for Labor Affairs in Dubai.

We are asking our employer to give us release papers so we
can work for another employer. The company has offered to pay us one month of
salary to release us and will keep the remaining wages owed us in exchange for
releasing us.

Since December 15, 2005, the company says they don't have any
work for us. The company offered to transfer us to another employer. I went and
talked to the workers for this new company, and they told me why do I want to
work there? They said they themselves haven't been paid for four to six months.

Our camp is a farmhouse with five rooms. There are 23 of us
living there. There was a period we didn't have food to eat and some
charitable people brought us food after our story was reported in the
newspapers. Before that, we survived on dates from a nearby farm.[52]

In some cases, the owners of small construction businesses
simply abscond without paying their workers at all, leaving the workers
stranded without any means of collecting their wages. Sattar, the Rajasthani
mentioned above, worked for a small company that employed only 10 workers.
Human Rights Watch interviewed Sattar and four of his co-workers who detailed
how their employer absconded in this way:

I arrived in Dubai
in November 2003. We worked for a small company who sponsored us and brought us
here. We built one warehouse and two villas. Since getting here we have lived
at the construction sites. We were paid 600 AED ($163) per month.

Starting December 2004, the employer stopped paying our
wages. We worked for him until August 2005 without being paid. Then in August
2005, the boss vanished. We have filed complaints with the courts. I just want
to get my unpaid wages and go back home.[53]

In addition to being denied their wages, workers who are
abandoned by their employers face perilous
conditions. Human Rights Watch interviewed 23 construction workers living in a
labor camp belonging to East Coast & Hamriah Company in Sharjah. The camp
was comprised of several trailers in decrepit conditions: the toilets were
overflowing, and electricity to the camp had been cut off because the company
had not paid its bills. The workers feared that the government would deport
them as their employment visas were directly tied to their employer.

One of the workers in the camp, Banwari, a 30-year-old
Indian, chronicled their troubles with their employer:

The company never paid us on a regular basis. We haven't
been paid for seven months. The company is now bankrupt. In January 2005, we
filed complaints with the Ministry of Labor and the Sharjah Federal Court. On April 13, 2005,
the Sharjah Federal Court of First Instance issued a verdict on our side against
the company. But we haven't been able to collect any of the money owed to us
because the owner, who is a Lebanese man, fled to Canada.[54]

The workers for the East Coast & Hamriah Company
provided Human Rights Watch with copies of court papers showing verdicts
against the company. The Sharjah
Court had ruled that the company owes its workers
sums ranging from 10,037 AED ($2,733) to 21,402 AED ($5,827).[55]
But none of the workers have been able to collect any of their dues.

"For the past year, we have trekked many times to the Sharjah Court
asking the authorities to implement the verdict. But they say there is nothing
more they can do," Banwari said. "We will wait here for the company to pay us
until we die or we will commit suicide," he added, summing up their
frustrations and desperation.[56]
The court rulings in the case did not impose any financial or custodial penalty
on the employer, as required by UAE law (see below).

Under UAE law, the East Coast & Hamriah Company could
not have registered its business without listing a UAE national as a partner.
Although a former project manager for the company confirmed to Human Rights
Watch that the company is bankrupt and that its Lebanese owner has fled to Canada,[57]
it remains unclear why the company's co-owner, who is a UAE national, is not
being held responsible. In our July letter to the minister of labor, Human
Rights Watch queried this. The UAE government's letter in reply contained no
specific response on this matter.[58]

Workers whose wages have been withheld are virtually stuck
in their situation, with little or no recourse. They can't just quit their jobs
and return home, because they remain indebted to recruiting agents, and their
only hope to repay the debts is to remain in their jobs and hope for eventual payment.
As one worker described to Human Rights Watch, "We can't just go back. Each of
us owes a lot of money to recruiting agents back home. How can we go back when
we have taken such huge loans?"[59]

In a variant of the practice of withholding wages, in numerous
cases reported in the press, employers "switch contracts" on migrant workers,
recruiting them by promising higher wages and then paying them a lower rate.
The group of 20 Indian construction workers Human Rights Watch interviewed said
that their employer was paying them half of the salary they were promised at
the time of hiring. One of them, Nataranjan, told Human Rights Watch,

There are about 60 of us working for a construction and
landscaping company. I paid an agency in India $2,300 to get a visa to come
here and work. For the first six months, we were getting paid $250 per month.
Then the company shut down a month ago. The company's owner owns another
business, and he wants us to work for that company for $5 a day. That is half
of what we were making before.[60]

While employers may "switch contracts," the workers have no
freedom to initiate a change of job and go to a different employer. For a
migrant worker, changing jobs within the UAE is a cumbersome, bureaucratic
process and requires the consent of the original employer. To begin with, labor
regulations require a worker to have completed two years of service with his
current employer before being entitle to switch employers.[61]
He may seek only the same kind of job, and there must be no UAE national
available for the job.[62]
Most significantly, in order to move to a new employer, a worker must obtain a
"letter of no objection" from his current employer and request the Ministry of
Labor to reregister his visa and work permit in the name of the new employer.[63]
The fact that employers usually hold on to workers' passports (see below) makes
it even more difficult for the worker to switch jobs. Nataranjan explained, "We
want our employer to give us a 'letter of no objection,' so we can look for
another employer and get a decent wage. But he says, 'Either work for $5 a day
or I'll revoke your visa and you have to go back to India.'"[64]

Low Wages

Low wages are another of the
main grievances of construction workers. The government has been unwilling to
put in place a minimum wage, despite a mandate in law dating from 1980 (this is
discussed further in the section "UAE Labor Law," below).

On March 21, 2006, nearly 2,500 workers at the OldTown
commercial section of the Burj Dubai complex, where the world's tallest tower
is under construction, protested their working conditions and low wages.[65]
The protest turned violent after the workers rioted at the end of their daily
shift. The workers had been waiting for hours to be transported back to their
labor camp.[66]
S. Kumar, an Indian worker who was present at the protest but did not
participate in the rioting, told Human Rights Watch,

I work at the Burj Dubai site. I earn 38 AED [$10.50] for
eight hours of work daily. My pay is higher than workers who arrived recently because
I have been with the company for 11 years. New workers are paid 28 AED [$7.60]
daily and they are unhappy about it.

On March 21, it was mostly the new workers who rioted. They
were stressed because after we finish our shift, it takes over an hour to punch
out. On that day, the buses were delayed for hours. The workers started to
complain. The company's security forces started to harass them and abuse them
verbally. This provoked the rioting. The new workers were demanding pay raises.[67]

In another recent protest, thousands of workers for the
Besix Company, a Brussels
based construction conglomerate, staged a strike demanding better wages. On May 16, 2006,
more than 8,000 Besix workers laid down their tools and refused to work until
their employers met their demands.[68]
A striking worker told reporters,

We will not go back to work until our demands are met. We
are being paid $106 per month and all we demand is that we are paid at least
$163 per month. The company has offered a raise to those who have been employed
[by Besix] for more than 10 years, but that is the minority of people here. We
do not accept that.[69]

The government deported 50 Besix workers who refused to end
their strike. Philippe Dessoy, deputy general manager of Besix's subsidiary,
Six Construct, told Construction Week that "[a]round 50 were taken by
police; they were not forced, they went willingly. They did not want to go back
to work."[70]

Confiscation of Passports

While employers in the UAE are prohibited from confiscating
the passports of their employees, employers routinely do this, retaining the
passports for the duration of their workers' employment, typically to ensure
that the employees do not abscond. All of the 107 migrant workers interviewed
by Human Rights Watch (construction workers and others-see "Methodology,"
above), said that their employers had confiscated their passports upon their
arrival in the UAE.[71]

Lt. Col. Rashid Bakhit Al Jumairi, assistant director of
follow up and investigation at the Dubai Naturalization and Residency
Administration, told Human Rights Watch that according to the law, "they [the
employers] should not hold passports." But he justified the practice by saying,
"sometimes workers lose their passports so the safest place to keep it is at
the company offices."[72]
Maj. Aref Mohammad Baqer, deputy director of the Human Rights Department at
Dubai Police, told Human Rights Watch that companies justify this as customary
and also to protect their own interests:

The companies say that holding of passports is part of the
business culture. They justify it by saying it would prevent the workers from
stealing money or trade secrets and information
from the company. Also employers say that by holding on to their workers'
passports, they can guarantee they will get a return on the money they invest
on each worker in visa fees and other expenses.[73]

UAE courts have specifically held this practice to be
unlawful. In 2001, the Dubai Court of Cassation issued the following ruling:

[I]t is not permitted for an employer to confiscate the
passport of an employee and prevent him from his natural right to travel and
move whatever the nature of the relationship that ties them together.
Confiscating a passport from his owner is nothing but a method of the many
methods that prohibit an employee from travel and this is ruled by the text of
Article 329 of the civil procedure law that raises the cases in which
preventing travel is permitted, and the condition that the order must be issued
by a judge in accordance with the
formal and practical procedures as defined by law.[74]

By withholding workers' passports, employers exercise an
unreasonable degree of control over their workers. Despite the fact that both
government officials and UAE courts have reiterated the unlawfulness of this practice,
the government has not taken any steps to put an end to it.

Safety and Health Hazards

Death and injury in site accidents

The extent of death and injury
of migrant workers is one of the most troubling, if poorly documented, aspects
of the construction sector in the UAE. As described below, there appear to be
no official countrywide government figures on cases of death and injury of
construction workers. The few figures available from government sources cover
only Dubai, and
even these figures appear to be well below the figures compiled by private
sources. This discrepancy in numbers can be attributed in part to the extremely
low incidence of companies reporting deaths and injuries to the government.

DubaiMunicipality
recorded 34 deaths of construction workers at their workplaces in 2004 and 39
deaths in 2005.[75]
Independent research by a construction trade publication, Construction Week, found that a total of 880 migrant construction
workers died in the UAE in 2004: 460 from India,
375 from Pakistan and
approximately forty-five from Bangladesh.[76]
While the Construction Week report
did not provide information
regarding the cause of death so it is unclear how many were work-related
accidents, an official with the Indian Community Welfare Committee, K. Kumar,
told Construction Week that he
believed up to 30 percent of the deaths of the Indians in the report
were related to site accidents.[77]
The Construction Week investigation
provided some breakdown of the information
by emirate, citing Indian embassy and consular records of 292 Indian
construction worker deaths in Dubai and the northern emirates and 168 in Abu
Dhabi, so extrapolating from Kumar's 30 percent estimate would mean that of 138
Indians who died in site accidents in 2004, 88 were in Dubai and the northern
emirates. Given that Dubai's construction boom
far outpaces the rest of the northern emirates, it is difficult to reconcile
the likelihood that a high proportion of these estimated 88 Indian deaths were
in Dubai with
the 34 worksite deaths officially reported there, for all nationalities.

An official at the Indian consulate in Dubai told Human Rights Watch that it has
registered 971 death cases in 2005, of which 61 are registered assite
accidents. Again, this contrasts sharply with the 39 deaths recorded that year
by the Dubai
government for all nationalities.

Heat-related illnesses

A serious health hazard faced by construction workers is the
extreme climatic conditions. The
mean maximum temperatures in the UAE during the months of April to September
are well above 90oF (32oC), with humidity in excess of 80
percent.[78]
For the construction workers who spend the vast majority of their time working
under such conditions, heat-related illnesses are a manifestation of dangerous working conditions. The heat and humidity
are considered a health hazard especially during the months of July and August,
when temperatures regularly peak above 100oF (38oC).

According to the Dubai
chapter of the World Safety Organization, heat-related illness is the most
important health issue facing construction workers.[79]
This includes heat-stroke as well as dehydration. As many as 5,000 construction
workers per month were brought into the accident and emergency department of RashidHospital
in Dubai during July and August 2004: Dr. G.Y.
Naroo, acting head of the accident and emergency department, told Construction Week, "[O]ur initial assessment of how many heat
related [cases] that came into the hospital was 2,500 per month. But once the
secondary assessment was done inside the hospital, we realized it came out to
be double."[80]

In June 2005, several health professionals called for a law
banning construction work during the afternoons in July and August. Dr. Rajeev
Gupta told Khaleej Times,

During the months of July and August, when the mercury
soars to unbearable limits, UAE records a spate of cases where laborers are
hospitalized due to heat strokes and cramps. Heat exhaustion or heat stroke is
preventable if one takes precautionary measures. The most important of which is
not to expose oneself to the sun from eleven in the morning to five in the
evening.[82]

In response, the Ministry of Labor issued a decree in June
2005 banning outdoor work between the hours of 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. during July and August.[83]
It resulted in reducing heat-related admissions to hospitals, with Dr. Naroo of
the Rashid Hospital, Dubai, telling reporters on July 29 that "only 1,200 to
1,500 [cases] are anticipated this month."[84]
That the decree did not go even further in reducing heat-related admissions is
probably because many companies openly ignored it-government inspectors
reported that during July and August 2005, more than 60 percent of the companies
inspected did not follow the afternoon break law.[85]
The authorities did not fine a single company for breaking the law.[86]

Moreover, the afternoon break rules have not been adopted on
a permanent basis. In May 2006, the UAE Contractors' Association (UAECA)
lobbied the government to repeal the 2005 decree because "the re-introduction
of the ban this year would create major problems for the sector."[87]
In July 2006, the Ministry of Labor announced that it had curtailed the midday
break to between 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.[88]
At a press conference to announce the change, when asked about the reduction in
hours, Minister of Labor Ali bin Abdullah Al Kaabi said, "The contractors
should be asked about the reduction in the hours, as they are the ones who have
decided the timings."[89]
The minister's reply is a clear indication of the construction industry's
ability to influence labor laws and regulations without regard for the health
and safety of workers.

Health and safety reporting and oversight
deficiencies

The federal government's failure
to monitor the conduct of construction companies is highlighted by the
significant discrepancies between government and private sources regarding the
annual numbers of dead and injured construction workers. The government has no
comprehensive data about numbers, causes of death or injury, or about the
identity of those dead or injured, as Dr. Khalid Khazraji, labor undersecretary
at the Ministry of Labor, admitted to the media in November 2005.[90]
The government is clearly not enforcing the mechanism that would assist it to
do so: although under UAE law companies must immediately notify the Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs and the police of cases of death and injury of
employees at work sites,[91]
according to government officials quoted in the local media, companies are
ignoring their legal obligation in this regard, so true fatality and injury
figures remain unknown.[92]
For example, in 2005, only six construction companies in Dubai (out of nearly six thousand ) filed
reports with the Ministry of Labor of death or injury among their workers.[93]
With nearly six thousand construction companies operating in Dubai, however, injuries at only six
companies is hard to fathom. Based on the diverging figures of government and
private sources, a number of media reports allege that the construction sector
has sought to cover up the extent of death and injury among workers.[94]

On July 14, 2006, in a letter to the minister of labor, Human
Rights Watch asked for information
regarding the death and injury rates of construction workers throughout the
country and the discrepancy between government figures for death and injury in Dubai (the only official
figures publicly available) and the ones reported by Construction Week. The reply received from the UAE government at
the end of September did not address this.

UAE law provides that Ministry of Labor inspectors ensure
that employers properly comply with safety and health regulations.[95]
However, since the Ministry employs only 140 inspectors to oversee the practices
of over 240,000 businesses, it is doubtful that provisions of the labor law
with regard to safety and health of workers are being properly implemented. On September 8, 2006,
the government announced plans to increase the number of inspectors to 1,000
within the next 18 months.[96]

Illegal workers particularly vulnerable

Some migrant construction workers are in the UAE illegally,
and are particularly vulnerable because their employers do not want to take
responsibility for them when they are injured at the workplace. According to a
local Indian social activist who tracks injured workers:

Private foremen, working on behalf of manpower supply
companies, hire a van and drive around hiring illegal construction workers.
Because there is a high demand for labor in the construction sector,
contractors turn to manpower supply companies to address labor shortages. Local
government officials are very helpful in fining companies who hire illegal
workers but it is a problem. Manpower supply companies are mostly run by expats
[expatriates] who employ illegal workers. They are a big part of the problem.
Accidents should be reported to the police, but these employers avoid doing so
because they don't want to pay for proper compensation.[97]

In a visit to the government-run Kuwaiti Hospital in Sharjah
on February 21,
2006, Human Rights Watch found two men, one an illegal worker and
the status of the other worker unknown, hospitalized due to accidents at
construction sites. Both had been "dumped" at the hospital by their employers
who did not identify themselves to the hospital authorities.

One, an Indian construction worker named Chekelli, was
hospitalized for back injuries. According to an Indian businessman who was
helping Chekelli to return to India:

Chekelli was working for a manpower supply company who
employed him illegally. Chekelli is from Nizamuddin in Andhra Pradesh in India.
He arrived in the UAE on a tourist visa and was subsequently employed by a
manpower supply company. He worked at a construction site in Dubai. A large cement bucket fell on his back
from a crane, pinning him to the ground. He was admitted to the KuwaitiHospital on January 22, 2006. His
employer disappeared after dumping the injured man at the hospital. The
employer claimed that he had fallen from a staircase.[98]

The seriousness of Chekalli's injuries meant that he was
paralyzed. He would be returning to India without receiving any
compensation for his work-related injuries.

The other patient we met had been transferred from Al Kasima
Hospital that same day. He was identifiably also Indian, but no one knew his
name or what had happened to him. According to his doctor, he appeared to have
suffered a serious head injury. When our researcher tried to interview the
patient, the man was confused and incoherent. He could not recall what had
happened to him and when asked about his employer or any associates, he kept
turning to his pillow, looking for a piece of paper that was not there. His
doctor said that he is probably suffering from memory loss. It was not clear
who would take care of his return to India, since no information about him was known.

Suicides on the rise

In the past few years, the media
has reported several cases of suicide of construction workers distressed about
their working conditions. Accurate and reliable data on the number of suicides
is, of course, hard to come by. According to Syed Mubarak, labor attach at the
Indian consulate in Dubai,
84 Indian nationals committed suicide in 2005 alone, although it is not clear
how many of these cases involved construction workers.[99]

Human Rights Watch documented
one case involving a construction worker who committed suicide at his labor
camp after his employer allegedly failed to pay him his wages.[100]
A labor camp manager in Sonapar, Dubai, told us
how on January 9,
2006, Julfikar Korani, a worker from India, committed suicide by hanging
himself from the ceiling of a bathroom inside the camp. According to the camp
manager, Julfikar had arrived from Calcutta
in June 2005 to work as a carpenter. The camp manager said Julfakir's monthly
wage was 700 AED ($190), and if he worked overtime he could earn up to 1,100 AED
($300), but the manager presented Zulfikar's wage records showing that the
employer had paid him only for one month in the more than six months since he
had started working.[101]

Julfakir's cousin, Jakir, who lives at the same camp, said
Julfakir took a loan of 90,000 Indian rupees ($2,000) to obtain a visa to work
in the UAE. Jakir said Julfakir had to repay 6,300 rupees ($140) monthly, and
that Julfikar was under financial stress because he was falling behind on his
loan repayments.[102]
The camp manager said that after Julfikar's suicide, no one cared to
investigate; even the police did not ask any questions.[103]

Construction Week
reported on another case of a worker who committed suicide after allegedly
suffering wage exploitation at the hands of his employer. Arumugam Venketesan,
a 24-year-old Indian national, worked for a manpower supply company. Construction Week reported that "the
company that brought him [Venketesan] to Dubai
was being paid between 15 AED [$4.10] and 20 AED [$5.50] per hour for the labor
they supplied to contractors. But this company passed on a mere 3 AED [$0.80]
per hour to its workers."[104]
Venketesan's suicide note is a heart-wrenching and eye-opening account of his
daily struggles in the face of exploitation:

I have been made to work without any money for months. Now,
for a month I've been suffering from a constant headache and wanted to visit a
doctor to examine my condition. I asked my camp boss for 50 [$14] but he
refused and told me to get back to work After my death I want the company to
pay all my salary dues to my family and repay the financial debt my family has
incurred because of them.[105]

Commenting on the general phenomenon and the circumstances
leading to such suicides, Dr. Shiv Prakash, a psychiatrist at the NewMedicalCenter and Hospital in Dubai, was quoted in Construction Week as saying,

When these workers reach here and they realize what they
have gotten themselves into and see that they've lost everything, they react to
it. They feel trapped as they now know that they can't go back either. There's
no escape. They know that they are in a bonded labor type of situation and are
reacting to what they think is the biggest mistake in their life, an
irreparable loss. It is the reaction to this loss which can lead to suicidal
contemplation.[106]

VI. UAE Labor Law

The UAE's Labor Law No. 8 of 1980 is a federal law
regulating labor relations throughout the country.[107]
It is regularly amended by ministerial resolutions, as issued by the Ministry
of Labor and approved by the Council of Ministers. Its provisions apply to both
UAE nationals and migrant workers. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for
implementing the federal labor law, but each emirate can also set up its own
agencies to enforce the federal labor law, as is done in the emirate of Dubai.

The labor law sets out the terms of recruitment of workers
by UAE employers, regulates maximum working hours, and provides for annual
leave and overtime. Employment of persons below the age of 15 years old is
forbidden.[108]
The law also forbids the employment of "young persons" at night in industrial
jobs and bans employment of "young persons" in "any job that is dangerous, arduous
or detrimental to health," as defined by the ministry of labor.[109]

The labor law includes articles on industrial safety and
health care for workers. It requires employers to protect workers against the
hazards of occupational injuries and diseases by "providing appropriate safety
measures."[110]
The law requires employers to provide medical professionals "to carry out
general medical examinations, at regular intervals of not more than six
months."[111]
Employers are also required to provide workers with medical care facilities.[112]

The law sets the terms for
workers' compensation in cases of work-related accident, disease or death. As
already noted, it requires employers to report instances of work-related
injuries and occupational diseases to the police and to the Ministry of Labor.
It requires the police to carry out a prompt investigation and issue a report
to determine "whether the accident was work-related, deliberate, or the result
of gross misconduct of the worker."[113]

Employers are required to pay for the medical treatment of
workers injured at the workplace.[114]
In cases where the injured worker is unable to return to work, the law requires
the employer to pay the worker his full pay for a period of his treatment up to
six months. If the worker requires treatment beyond six months, the employer is
required to pay one-half of his wages until the worker fully recovers, is
declared disabled, or dies.[115]
If the worker dies due to a work-related injury or occupational disease, his
family shall be entitled to compensation equal to two years of his basic wage.[116]
A worker who suffers permanent total disability is entitled to a similar
compensation by his employer as in the case of death.[117]

The law does not, however,
require employers to maintain insurance for compensation or medical care. Most
recently, in a positive move, the government of Abu Dhabi passed a law requiring all
companies that have more than 1,000 employees to provide private medical health
insurance for their employees, starting July 2006. Companies with fewer than
1,000 employees will be required to implement this law as of January 2007.

The law stipulates penalties for
any violation. Article 181 requires "a penalty of imprisonment for a period not
exceeding six months and/or a fine not less than three thousand Dirhams [$833]
but not exceeding ten thousand Dirhams [$2,778]" on anyone who violates any of
the labor law's provisions, executive regulations or orders.[118]

UAE law also establishes a mechanism for the resolution of
disputes between workers and employers, namely the Ministry of Labor's
arbitration board. It requires the government to set a minimum wage, but this
provision has never been implemented. The shortcomings of the dispute
resolution mechanisms and the failure to implement a minimum wage, as well as
the law's failure to recognize the right of workers to organize and bargain
collectively and the explicit ban on labor strikes, are discussed in detail
below.

Government Mechanisms Addressing Labor Disputes

While UAE law governing issues such as workplace health and
safety, workers' compensation, child labor, hours of work and leave time are
admirable when taken at face value, there is little evidence of its enforcement
in favor of workers' rights. What is also apparent in the cases examined by Human
Rights Watch, as well as those documented in news reports, is that recourse to
the government or the judiciary is of limited use to workers. Aggrieved workers
are entitled to seek a hearing before the Ministry of Labor, which arbitrates
disputes and refers unresolved cases to the judiciary, but the availability of
arbitration remains a limited option.

The labor law grants the officials and inspectors of the
Ministry of Labor "the status of judicial officers for the purposes of the
application of this Law and its executive regulations and orders,"[119]
and the law requires the Ministry of Labor to set up an arbitration board to
resolve conflicts between workers and their employers.[120]
When a labor dispute arises, a worker must notify the Ministry of Labor in writing.
A ministry official will ask the employer and workers to resolve their dispute
through direct negotiations.[121]
If direct negotiations fail, then an official at the Ministry of Labor will
arbitrate the case.[122]
The arbitrator has 30 days to resolve the conflict. If he does not succeed, the
case is then referred to an "arbitration committee" within the Ministry.[123]
If the committee fails to resolve the dispute, the case is referred to the
judiciary. Workers cannot directly file cases with the judiciary.

UAE government officials have criticized the existing
arbitration procedure as inadequate and unfair. The criticism encompasses both
bureaucratic lapses and deliberate bias and wrongdoing.

Mohammad Saleh Al Madani,
acting head of the Civil Cases Unit of Dubai Court, has criticized the Ministry
of Labor's lack of strategy towards labor rights protections and lack of proper
record keeping about employers. He was quoted in a Dubai newspaper in January 2006 as saying:

The Ministry of Labor has no coordination with the Dubai courts or an action
plan to protect laborers' rights. It also lacks information
about the companies' status. In most of the cases the court finds that the
companies involved in the dispute have shut down or have no properties or
assets. Even the Ministry itself does not have important documents If the
Ministry has all relevant documents, this will facilitate the court's work and
help expedite the proceedings more effectively. Even when the ministry submits
the laborer's files, we find many important documents missing, such as labor
contracts.[124]

An unnamed Ministry of Labor official was quoted by the same
newspaper a month earlier as saying:

The lack of transparency in the
department was apparent with the legal researchers-officials who help find
solutions to labor dispute-withholding information
about employees' rights, and instead suggesting measures that force laborers to
succumb to the employers' will.[125]

The Ministry of Labor's own website suggests the strong
pressure workers come under to settle their cases with their employers:"Should you have any grievance, try to
solve it amicably with the concerned parties at your Company. Should you fail
to solve any grievance at your Company, you have to put the issue up to the
Concerned LabourDepartment & you should follow their advice to settle same."[126]

The minister of labor, Ali bin Abdullah Al Kaabi, has
acknowledged the ministry's shortcomings in resolving labor disputes, telling a
newspaper in late 2005:

I have proof of prejudice in settling disputes that were
reported to me personally by workers who had filed complaints to the department
and received biased treatment. I had to handle these complaints and grant
justice to those complainants. I am aware of the problems at the department. I
know there is harassment and prejudice against some complainants. I will
announce this with evidence at the right time.[127]

Issues such as wages and working conditions might not rise
to the level of disputes needing formal arbitration if there were greater labor
inspection capacities. As already noted, recognizing that the existing 140
government labor inspectors were insufficient, the Ministry of Labor in
September 2006 announced that it would hire 260 more by the end of the year,
and planned to have 1,000 inspectors within 18 months. It remains to be seen
whether this plan will be fully implemented in a timely fashion, and whether it
will result in a meaningful and efficient application of the labor law.

Overall, there is a sense that the government considers
labor problems a private affair. In an interview with Human Rights Watch, the
head of the Work Permit Department in the Ministry of Labor, Abdulla Saeed Saif
Bin Suloom Alfalasi, placed the blame for labor abuses on foreign private
businesses, saying, "In many cases it is expat employers who are violating the
workers rights We have set up a hotline for workers to report complaints. What
more can we do? We are not angels."[128]
Furthermore, both public officials and media reports have noted with concern
the appearance of a conflict of interest among government officials who are
responsible for implementing the labor law.[129]
Some government officials who work in the Ministry of Labor and the Immigration
Administration are themselves sponsors and employers of migrant workers. In
April 2005 Minister Al Kaabi issued a decision limiting the business interests
of the ministry's employees in sponsoring and employing migrant workers to 10
businesses.[130]

The federal government maintains no comprehensive data
(including statistics) on labor dispute cases lodged with government agencies.[131]
Therefore, it remains unknown what percentage of cases the government
successfully resolves, whether through arbitration or judicial decision, the
extent to which decisions favor workers or employers, or the extent to which
employers are punished and decisions against them enforced. Writing to the
minister of labor in July 2006, Human Rights Watch reiterated the requests we
made for this information during a
meeting with ministry officials in Dubai
in February. The reply received in late September did not concretely address
our request.

Mohammad Saleh Al Madani,
of the Civil Cases Unit of Dubai Court, criticized the Ministry of Labor's lack
of statistics:

Though there are a huge number
of labor disputes, there is neither any
statistical record nor any data on the nature of those disputes. On an average,
the cases filed annually with each of the five labor departments are in the
average of 200 to 300. The labor cases ruled upon by the courts pertained to
refusal to pay salaries, end of service benefits, tickets and suspensions
without notification among others.[132]

In Dubai,
the local government has introduced two additional mechanisms to address the
rising tide of labor disputes. The Dubai Police has established a Human Rights
Department that attempts to address labor disputes through mediation, but it
has no binding legal powers to enforce its decisions. Aref Mohammed Baqer,
deputy director of the department, told Human Rights Watch, "We first note the
workers' grievances and then contact the employer. We call them to a joint
meeting and inform the workers of their rights. If our arbitration fails, then
we refer the case to the Ministry of Labor."[133]
Between November and December 2005, the Dubai Police Human Rights Department
reportedly collected the equivalent of more than $55 million in unpaid wages
from 61 companies. Mohammed Saeed Al Mur, head of the department, reported to
the media,

Since the launch of the workers complaint service, the department
has succeeded in solving the problems of 25,312 workers between November 2005
and January 2006. Only in three months' time, the department has managed to
persuade 61 companies in Dubai
to make the payment of delayed salaries amounting to 201,149,753 AED
[$55,874,931].[134]

The government of Dubai
also established the Permanent Committee on Labor Affairs (PCLA) in March 2005
to mediate labor disputes. The committee is composed of representatives from
the Immigration Administration, the Ministry of Labor, the DubaiMunicipality,
the Economic Department, and the Dubai Police. Authorities at the PCLA told
Human Rights Watch that they resolved nearly 20,000 cases involving unpaid
wages between March and December of 2005. According to Lt.
Col. Rashid Bakhit Al Jumairi, an official with the PCLA, 19,249 workers
registered complaints with the committee between March and December 2005.
During this period, committee inspectors also visited 36 labor camps and found
75 percent of them to be well below government standards.[135]

Because of the somewhat haphazard nature of these agencies
and their unclear authority under the law, there is no clear distinction among
the respective roles of the Ministry of Labor and these two Dubai agencies. Whichever agency a worker
first approaches to launch a complaint will arbitrate the case. And while the Dubai initiatives are
laudable, they should not substitute for appropriate and more assertive
responses at the federal level. All told, there is no comprehensive data
available on the total number of cases brought in front of these three bodies.
Thus, the extent of labor problems in the UAE, the extent to which laborers can
and do resort to these bodies for help with their problems, and the extent of
federal government enforcement of labor laws and punishment of employers
remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Notably, Human Rights Watch has not been able to document a
single instance where an employer was sanctioned, either by prison time or
financial penalties, for failing to pay wages to its workers. As detailed in
some of the cases above, even workers who succeed in obtaining judgments
against their employers are unable to enforce those judgments to recover their
wages, much less succeed in seeing them punished with fines or imprisonment.
Even when the Ministry of Labor gets involved directly in a dispute, there is
no assurance that an employer will actually fulfill its obligation to pay the
back wages, or will not merely resume withholding wages all over again, as in
the case of Al Hamed Company, discussed above.

Presumably to protect workers from the non-payment of wages,
the government requires employers to post bank guarantees as part of their
application to obtain a permit to sponsor migrant workers.[136]
The amount of the guarantees depends on the number of migrant workers sponsored
by the company. UAE law authorizes, but does not require, the Ministry of Labor
to liquidate a company's bank guarantee in favor of its employees "if the
employer fails to honor the rights of any of his employees."[137]
Although there is much evidence of construction companies withholding employee
wages, Human Rights Watch could not verify any public record of companies whose
bank guarantees were liquidated by the authorities in favor of unpaid workers.
If the only penalty for non-payment of wages is an order to pay wages without
any finance charge or interest or fee, sometimes enforced, sometimes not, then
there is little deterrent, and no penalty, for companies that choose to
routinely withhold wages.

Deficiencies in the Law

Lack of a minimum wage

Construction workers in the UAE earn abysmal
sums ranging from monthly wages of 390 AED ($106) to 900 AED ($250).
Although the 1980 UAE Labor Law explicitly requires the Ministry of Labor to
institute a minimum wage, it has never been put into practice. According to
Article 63 of the Labor Law:

The minimum wage and the cost-of-living index payable to
workers in general or in a particular area or occupation shall be fixed by a
federal decree based on a proposal to be made by the Minister of Labor and
Social Affairs and approved by the Council of Ministers.

The Minister shall put forward his proposal for
determining, or reviewing, the minimum wage, after consulting the competent
authorities and the labor organizations of workers and employers, if any, and
after having reference to studies and tables of fluctuations in the cost of
living indices drawn up by the competent authorities in the State, to ensure
that the said minima are sufficient to meet the worker's basic needs and
guarantee his livelihood.[138]

In its July
2006 letter Human Rights Watch asked the minister of labor why this law has
never been implemented. The September reply from the UAE government not address
this question.

The lack of a minimum wage has been highly relevant to the
episodes of strikes and worker riots mentioned above (see section "Law Wages").
The Belgian Company Besix, responding to the May 2006 strike by more than 8,000
of its workers, posted notes in its labor camps saying "salaries would be increased
according to government instructions."[139]
A Besix official was quoted in the local media as saying: "We're considering
raising their salaries but it's more of a government problem than a contractor
problem. The government should fix a minimum wage."[140]

Absence of trade unions and collective bargaining

UAE law does not recognize the right of workers to organize
and form trade unions. The labor law also forbids strikes. The 1980 labor law
allows for the employers to suspend workers temporarily without pay in case of
a strike.[141]
In a recent ministerial resolution directed only at migrant workers, the
federal government banned migrant workers from employment in the country for at
least one year in case of "an illegal strike or its instigation."[142]

Because workers are not allowed to organize and form unions,
there are no institutions representing their interests. As is widely
recognized, unions are the most important vehicle for workers to communicate
grievances with relevant government bodies, to negotiate with employers, and to
seek structural reforms.

The minister of labor has indicated that the government will
enact a law permitting trade union activities by the end of this year.[143]
Human Rights Watch in its letter to the minister of July 14, 2006, asked for
details of the proposed legislation. The reply received from the UAE government
at the end of September did not address this.

International human rights law guarantees workers' right to
freedom of association and collective bargaining, including the right to
organize unions for the protection of their interests.

As a member of the International Labour Organization (ILO),
the UAE is obligated to permit workers to organize for the purpose of
collective bargaining. The ILO has declared that all member states must promote
and protect freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively as a
"fundamental" labor principle, specifically stating that all members are obligated to allow
freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, even if, like
the UAE, they have not ratified the key ILO conventions governing those rights
(see below).

There exists an urgent need for labor unions in the UAE to
engage the government and the private sector on behalf of workers. In the
course of our research, it became evident that lack of organized representation
is a major obstacle to addressing the exploitation of construction workers
documented in this report. To improve the situation of migrant workers in the
UAE, it is essential that the government recognize their right to form trade
unions, bargain collectively, and strike.

VII. Workers' Human Rights and Government
Obligations under International Law

A comprehensive body of international law protecting
workers' rights has been developed over the past 50 years. Where a state has
accepted to be bound by these standards, they apply to all workers in the
country, both foreign and citizens. In most cases, a government's obligation is
to ensure that employers respect the rights of workers by law, regulation,
investigation, and prosecution, as appropriate.

UAE Membership in the ILO

As already noted, the UAE is a member of the ILO. It has
ratified six of the eight core ILO conventions, namely the conventions relating
to elimination of forced and compulsory labor, elimination of discrimination in
respect of employment and occupation, and abolition of child labor. The UAE has
also ratified ILO Convention No. 1 on hours of work, Convention No. 81 on labor
inspection, and Convention No. 89 on night work (women).[144]

The UAE has not ratified core ILO Conventions No. 87 on
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize and No. 98 on
the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining.[145]
This notwithstanding, in its 1998 Declaration
of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the ILO has emphasized
that all member states must implement and respect fundamental workers' rights
within the ILO framework.[146]
The Declaration specifically states that all
members are obligated to allow freedom of association and the right to
collective bargaining:

[A]ll members, even if they have not ratified the
Conventions in question, have an obligation arising from the very fact of
membership in the Organization, to respect, to promote, and to realize, in good
faith and in accordance with the [ILO] Constitution, the principles concerning
the fundamental rights which are the subject of those Conventions, namely: (a)
freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective
bargaining;[147]

The ILO interprets "freedom of association and effective
recognition of the right to collective bargaining" under the Declaration to
mean that "all workers and all employers have the right freely to form and join
groups for the promotion and defence of their occupational interests."[148]
The ILO also requires that workers' organizations be allowed to establish their
own rules, operate freely, and elect their representatives in full freedom and
that the organizations be truly independent and free of external interference:
"Workers and employers can set up, join and run their own organisations without
interference from the State or one another."[149]
In addition, the ILO requires that the right to freedom of association and
collective bargaining be incorporated into the member states' legal frameworks:

To realise the principle of freedom of association and the
right to collective bargaining in practice requires, among other things, a
legal basis which guarantees that these rights are enforced; an enabling
institutional framework, which can be tripartite, between the employers' and
workers' organisations, or combinations of both[150]

Furthermore, in 1975, the ILO Committee on Freedom of
Association, stated that ILO members, by virtue of their membership, are "bound
to respect a certain number of general rules which have been established for
the common good. Among these principles, freedom of association has become a
customary rule above the Conventions."[151]

The ILO has also recognized workers' right to strike. The
ILO's Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and
Recommendations in 1994 stated that the "right to strike is an intrinsic
corollary of the right to organize protected by Convention No. 87."[152]

ILO Convention No. 155 addresses occupational health and
safety of workers.[153]
Although the UAE has not ratified this convention, it should consider doing so
and amending UAE labor law to incorporate its provisions as a step towards
addressing serious concerns regarding the health and safety of workers in the
country, particularly construction workers. The convention calls for national
policies "to prevent accidents and injuries to health by minimizing the
causes of hazards inherent in the working environment." It urges states parties
to "formulate, implement and periodically review a coherent national policy on
occupational safety, occupational health and the working environment." In
addition, the convention calls for "the enforcement of laws and regulations
concerning occupational safety and health" and urges "the holding of inquiries,
where cases of occupational accidents or any other injuries to health which
arise in the course of or in connection with work appear to reflect situations
which are serious." It requires that government authorities ensure that "the
publication, annually, of information on occupational accidents, occupational
diseases and other injuries to health which arise in the course of or in
connection with work."

Other International Standards

While the UAE is not a party to the instruments cited below,
they constitute authoritative sources and guidelines that reflect international
best practice.

Key international instruments protect workers' rights to
freedom of association and to bargain collectively, as well as the right to
strike. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) recognizes "the right of everyone to form trade unions and join the
trade union of his choice, subject only to the rules of the organization
concerned, for the promotion and protection of his economic and social
interests" and "the right to strike."[154]
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the right
to freedom of association by stating, "Everyone shall have the right to freedom
of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions
for the protection of his interests."[155]

The ICESCR
specifies "the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable
conditions of work which ensures, in particular safe and healthy working
conditions."[156]

The confiscation of passports by the employers of migrant
workers is explicitly forbidden under the International Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
Article 21 of the convention states:

It shall be unlawful for anyone, other than a public
official duly authorized by law, to confiscate, destroy or attempt to destroy
identity documents, documents authorizing entry to or stay, residence or
establishment in the national territory or work permits. No authorized confiscation
of such documents shall take place without delivery of a detailed receipt. In
no case shall it be permitted to destroy the passport or equivalent document of
a migrant worker or a member of his or her family.

The UAE should consider signing and ratifying the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers
and Members of Their Families, and incorporating the convention's provisions
into domestic labor law to provide migrant workers the protections they are due
under international law.

Acknowledgments

This report was researched and written by Hadi Ghaemi, researcher in the Middle
East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. It was
edited by Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division, Ian Gorvin, programs consultant, and Carol J. Pier,
Human Rights Watch's Business and Human Rights senior researcher. Wilder Tayler, legal and policy director to Human
Rights Watch, provided a legal review. Tarek Radwan and Assef
Ashraf, associates for the Middle East and North Africa
Division, provided research assistance and, with Andrea
Holley, manager of outreach and publications, prepared this
report for production. Additional production assistance was provided by Fitzroy Hepkins, mail manager, and Jagdish Parikh,
online communications content coordinator. Zina Al-Askari provided invaluable
help with research. Human Rights Watch interns Howayda
Barakat, Mahmoud Ibrahim, Rupert
Cowper-Coles, and Marie-Agnes Suquet helped with research and
translations. Human Rights Watch thanks the many individuals in the United Arab Emirates
whose assistance was essential in conducting this research.

Appendix 1: Human Rights Watch Letter to UAE Minister
of Labor

July
14, 2006

His Excellency Dr. Ali Abdulla Al Kaabi

Minister of Labor

Ministry of Labor,

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Your Excellency,

Human Rights Watch is preparing a report regarding the
conditions of migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We recently
conducted a fact-finding mission in the UAE. Our goal is to include the views
and testimonies of the people who work in the UAE, their employers, and the UAE
government, with respect to the policies and conditions governing migrant work
there. Prior to our mission, Human Rights Watch contacted your office on February 9, 2006,
through your secretary Mr. Mohammad Salem, requesting an interview during our
visit. Unfortunately, we did not receive any reply to this request. A copy of
the letter is attached. During our visit to the UAE, we also made several
attempts to reach your office by phone, but were not able to secure an
appointment with you.

As we emphasized in our earlier communication, we would like
to ensure our report properly reflects your government's views, policies and
practices regarding the conditions of migrant workers.

We would appreciate your comments on the following issues by
July 31st, 2006; if we receive your comments by then, we will
certainly reflect them in our upcoming publication.

On March 30, 2006,
Your Excellency announced that the UAE will enact a law by the end of this
year that will allow workers to form unions and to legalize collective
bargaining. We would be grateful if you could provide us a copy of this
law, so that we may reflect the proposed legislative changes in our
report.

According
to media reports quoting the Labor Ministry, as of 2005, there were
2,738,000 expatriate workers in the UAE, and 246,420 companies registered
in the UAE that employ migrant workers. Please could you verify and update
these statistics?

According
to our research, the Ministry of Labor currently employs eighty inspectors
to oversee the labor practices of the 246,420 companies that employ
migrant workers. Is this figure correct? How many companies have these
inspectors inspected in the past two years? Are the findings of their
inspections made public, and if so, can we obtain copies of their findings
for the past three years? Does the Ministry of Labor have any plans to
increase the number of inspectors?

What
are the mechanisms for inspection and enforcement of the UAE's employment
laws?

We
understand that the Ministry of Labor arbitrates labor disputes and, if
necessary, refers them to the judiciary. How many labor disputes did the
Ministry receive in 2004 and 2005? How many cases did it resolve through
arbitration, and how many did it refer to the courts? What were the nature
of the complaints filed? Whether by arbitration or court order, what
percentage of the cases resulted in awards or reinstatement or restitution
to employees?

How
many cases have led to the imposition of fines and/or prison sentences
against construction companies for violating the labor law? Please provide
us any information regarding the amounts of fines, or other penalties
imposed, and the names of companies involved.

In
August 2005, local media in the UAE published reports that the number of
migrant workers working in the construction sector who died in 2004
exceeded 800. The official government figure for the number of workplace
deaths in 2004 is thirty-four. How do you explain the discrepancy between
the government's statistics and the reported figures? In particular, are
the companies operating in "Free Zones" required to report to the
government incidents of death and injury at their work-sites? How do you
gather statistics on the number of laborers injured or killed on
construction sites? What kind of provisions for medical care, social
security benefits, and transfer of remains are made available, if any?

According
to the UAE labor law, all companies are obligated to report death and
injuries at workplace to the Ministry of Labor. According to the Ministry
of Labor officials, quoted in the media, only six companies filed reports
of death and injury in 2005. What is the government doing to make sure
that companies report instances of death and injury?

On September 23, 2005,
hundreds of workers for the Al Hamed Development and Construction of Abu
Dhabi publicly protested that their employer had not paid them their
salary for the past four months. Your office immediately ordered Al Hamed
Development and Construction to pay the workers their full unpaid wages.
As of April
3, 2006, when we interviewed workers at Al Hamed Development
and Construction, they told us that they were paid only two months of
back-wages. The Al Hamed workers said that as of April 3, 2006, they are
owed three months of wages. Please provide us any information regarding any actions your government
has taken to resolve this matter. How is the government holding Al Hamed
Company accountable for its persistent violation of workers rights?

In
the course of our research, we have come across many cases of workers who
have been abandoned by their employers. In these cases, the employers held
back paying wages to their workers for many months and then fled the
country. Under UAE law, all companies must have a business partner who is
a UAE national. However, our research indicates that the UAE nationals are
not being held accountable in these cases. Can you provide us with information regarding the identity and number of UAE
nationals found guilty of violating UAE labor laws, particularly in cases
of bankrupt construction companies?

We
would like to ask your response to the particular case of East Coast &
Hamriah Company. On April 13, 2005, the Sharjah Federal Court of the
First Instance has issued verdicts that the company owes 23 of its workers
various dues. However, because the Lebanese owner of the company has fled,
the authorities have told the workers there is no way they can recover
their lost wages and that the company's UAE partner is not liable. Could
you please respond why in this case the UAE partner is not being held
liable? Please see copies of court rulings in the case of three out of the
23 workers attached to this letter.

According
to the UAE law, it is illegal for employers to withhold their employees'
passports. Human Rights Watch found that employers routinely ignore this
law and confiscate employee passports. What is the government doing to
address this illegal yet widespread practice?

According
to Article 63 of the UAE labor law, the Ministry of Labor is required to
put in place a minimum wage. Why has the Ministry never fulfilled its
legal obligation? What is the government currently doing to fulfill this
legal requirement?

Please do not hesitate to include any other materials,
statistics, and government actions regarding the conditions of migrant workers
in the UAE that you think might be relevant. Thank you in advance for your time
in addressing this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Hadi Ghaemi

Researcher

Middle East and North Africa
Division

Human Rights Watch

cc: His Excellency
Ambassador Saqr Ghobash, UAE Ambassador to the United States

[15] According
to the Ministry of Economy, Planning Sector, there were 512,495 construction
workers employed in the UAE, see http://www.uae.gov.ae/mop/UAE_figures/UAE_%2004_files/sheet010.htm
(accessed May 31,
2006). According to the Ministry of Labor, as quoted in Gulf News, May 1, 2006, the
number of migrant workers increased by 17 per cent in 2005, compared to 2004.

[29]
Human Rights Watch interview with Abdulla Saeed Saif Bin Suloom Alfalasi, head
of the Work Permit Department in the Ministry of Labor, Dubai, February 22, 2006.

[30]Federal Law
No. 8 for 1980, On Regulation of Labor Relations, http://www.mol.gov.ae/Pages-EN/documents-en/rule-labour.HTML
(accessed August
11, 2006), art. 17. Ministerial order No. 57 (an addendum to Law
No. 8) states, in article 2, "In order to be granted permission for mediation
in the recruitment and supply of labor from abroad, the following
pre-conditions must be met: 1. The applicant must be a U.A.E. National"

[32] Ministerial
order No. (57) states, in art. 2, "In order to be granted permission for mediation in the recruitment and
supply of labor from abroad, the following pre-conditions must be met: 2. The
applicant shall submit an undertaking to the ministry to the effect that it
shall not get any commission or remuneration from the labor in consideration of
their recruitment whether before or after the acceptance of such labor to work."
Federal Law No. 8 For 1980, On Regulation od Labor Relations, http://www.mol.gov.ae/Pages-EN/documents-en/rule-labour.HTML (accessed August 30, 2006) art. 18 states: "No licensed
employment agent or labour supplier shall demand or accept from any worker,
whether before or after the latter's admission to employment, any commission or
material reward in return for employment, or charge him for any expenses
thereby incurred, except as may be prescribed or approved by the Ministry of
Labour and Social Affairs.

[42]
Following a recent protest by hundreds of unpaid workers for a Sharjah-based
company, a company official was quoted in the local media as saying "We only hold back salary for 45 days as surety in case of
runaways." See Mahmoud Saberi, "Hundreds Protest Over Non-payment of Wages," Gulf
News, August
29, 2006.

[43] Federal
Law No. 8 for 1980, On Regulation of Labor Relations, article 56 states,
"Workers employed on yearly or monthly wage basis shall be paid at least once a
month; all other workers shall be paid at least once every two weeks." Article
58 of the same law states, "Evidence of payment to workers of their due wages,
irrespective of their amount or nature, shall not be admissible unless it is in
the form of documentary proof, admission or oath." See Ministry of Labor
website, http://www.mol.gov.ae/Pages-EN/documents-en/rule-labour.HTML
(accessed August
30, 2006).

[44]
The managing director of a construction company in the UAE told our researcher that
"depending on the type and size of the
companies, some contractors find themselves facing cash flow problems due to a
variety of reasons. During the nineties, contractors worked on very low margins
(2-3 % of revenue) and thus maintaining cash flow was essential for their
survival. It has often been that contractors working for the government sector
found themselves waiting for 120 to 180 days to get paid which meant a major
cash squeeze. To add insult to injury, contractors were not regulated properly
in terms of financial ability and there are still no credit ratings for
companies in this part of the world.All this has since changed in the UAE
as of 2004 when the construction boom started in Dubai creating perhaps an unprecedented oasis
for contractors. Demand has outstripped supply to such a large extent that
every contractor I am aware of is working on very high margins. Long gone are
the days that contractors wait for payments." Email correspondence with managing
director of a construction company, identity withheld, August 25, 2006.

[55]
According to court documents obtained by Human Rights Watch regarding Lawsuit #
63/2005, Maneer Singh v. East Coast & Hamriah Co., Sharjah Federal Court of
First Instance required the defendant
to pay the sum of AED 10,037 to the plaintiff and to pay for the plaintiff's
plane ticket to his home country.

According to Lawsuit #335/2005, Shanan Ram Beiru Ram
v. East Coast & Hamriah Co., Sharjah Federal Court of First Instance
required the defendant to pay AED
21,402 to the plaintiff and to pay for the plaintiff's plane ticket to his home
country.

[76]
"Site worker death toll exceeds 800," Construction Week, No. 83, August 6-19, 2005. Their
investigation calculated fatality figures for migrant workers by compiling data
recorded by the embassies of India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh,
countries that have the largest number of workers in the construction sector.

[107]
Federal Law No. 8 for 1980, On Regulation of Labor Relations. The Council of
Ministers, whose members are appointed by the president of the UAE, issues
federal laws by decree. The president and vice president are elected by the
Federal Supreme Council, which is composed of the rulers of each emirate.

[109]
The law does not explicitly define "young persons." Since the law bans
employment of persons under the age of 15, "young persons" presumably refers to
persons above the age of 15 and under the age of 18.

[131]
Abdulla Saeed Saif Bin Suloom Alfalasi, manager of the Work Permit Department
at the Ministry of Labor, told Human Rights Watch that he did not have any
statistics available on labor disputes. Human Rights Watch interview with
Abdulla Saeed Saif Bin Suloom Alfalasi, Dubai,
February 22, 2006.

[152]
International Labour Conference, 1994,
"Freedom of association and collective bargaining: The right to strike,
Report of the Committee of Experts on
the Application of Conventions and Recommendations," 81st
Session, Geneva,
1994, Report III (Part 4B), para. 151.